In the midst of all the Weber business, Nashville also re-signed Sergei for two years and Colin Wilson for 3, after which he is still restricted. I will never not predict a breakout year for Wilson. Those two will need to be offensive force for the Preds.

Radulov and AK47 are gone, whatever. They may have invested way too much in Gaustad, but he is the one that fits their system. They've been building that defensive pipeline forever. Losing Suter is going to hurt, but Nashville can recover with Weber and Rinne still there and the possibilities of a young guy stepping up.

Fisher, Erat, Legwand, Wilson, Kostitsyn, and Hornqvist will be as good of a top-6 as they're used to. Gaustad, Spaling, various role players, and potential contributors like Smith and Bourque will do their part.

Thing is, a good team can easily finish 4th in that division and other Western teams are getting better - Minnesota, Colorado, Dallas, and Edmonton can all be better than they were last year. Detroit could fear the same thing.

Well, that's intriguing, but not really unexpected. Winnipeg and Carolina both look better on paper after adding some offense. Tampa and Washington obviously have a bunch of talent up front. Could be one wild division.

I don't think it's an overpayment. Teams still have more cap space collectively than there are worthy players to spend on. Semin was the last impact free agent aside from Doan, and if you can get any impact player signed for a 1-year, low risk contract, you do it.

I'm pretty pissed that Ken Holland is still sitting on his hands acting like that cap space is going to roll over to next offseason. It's the same damn thing he did last year.

Yeah, there's not a whole lot wrong with this, in my eyes. Carolina was 4 million under the floor before this and I'm sure they think they can take a playoff spot from Florida or Ottawa. They obviously came into this offseason willing to throw money around. As much as I hate them, I don't fault them for trying to make a splash.

I don't think it's an overpayment. Teams still have more cap space collectively than there are worthy players to spend on. Semin was the last impact free agent aside from Doan, and if you can get any impact player signed for a 1-year, low risk contract, you do it.

I'm pretty pissed that Ken Holland is still sitting on his hands acting like that cap space is going to roll over to next offseason. It's the same damn thing he did last year.

Yeah but this is why Holland is a good GM. He doesn't spend just because he has it. A lesser GM would have panicked and thrown big money at Carle, Semin, Doan, etc once he missed out on Suter/Parise.

Yeah but this is why Holland is a good GM. He doesn't spend just because he has it. A lesser GM would have panicked and thrown big money at Carle, Semin, Doan, etc once he missed out on Suter/Parise.

I completely disagree. Why should I praise Holland because he DIDN'T sign those players? For two years he looked forward to this offseason, knowing he'd have the most cap space he's ever had (24 million) and he swung and missed on everyone. There's no rollover for cap space. That's just money that's not being used. We left 5 million unused last season. And we'll leave more than that unused again this year.

Ken Holland is living off his supreme reputation from the pre-lockout days.

Wings fans have been spoiled over the last 15 years. Everyone knows it. But Holland is passively letting this era of dominance end by failing repeatedly to acquire impact players.

I don't blame him for missing on Suter and Parise. I blame him for failing to recognize earlier in the process that he was gambling big time to wait on them while everyone else got signed. In the new NHL, you have to "overpay" for free agents, though the definition of an overpayment is rapidly changing. The market for a player like Hudler has gone up, past what most people think he's worth, but they're going off his salary from the past.

The salary cap has nearly doubled since the lockout. That means salaries have gone up too and Ken Holland is still asking or expecting players to take discounts. There's parity in the NHL now. Half the NHL teams enter the season with a chance at a Stanley Cup, so free agents aren't compelled to take very much less money to play on one of the supposed best teams.

I think Holland has done a poor job of adapting to the new NHL. I'm not saying he should be replaced by any means, but I'm rattled by every one of the countless Red Wings fans that I see defending him based on his past accomplishments. This team gets farther away from a Stanley Cup every year despite having the cap space to stop the decline.

In my opinion because of the huge improvement of parity in the league players are most likely looking at more things than just hockey, for example if I was a player being persued by multiple teams each who had a legitimate chance at making the playoffs or winning a stanley cup and they were all offering ballpark same length and dollar amount a teams history really doesn't matter anymore. Instead I would look at things such as the city, places to live, if I had a family the school district for them and things of that nature, and I hate to say it but Detroit isn't that desirable of a destination as a city, and thats something Holland really has no control over. Again this is just my opinion as I am not a red wings fan.

In my opinion because of the huge improvement of parity in the league players are most likely looking at more things than just hockey, for example if I was a player being persued by multiple teams each who had a legitimate chance at making the playoffs or winning a stanley cup and they were all offering ballpark same length and dollar amount a teams history really doesn't matter anymore. Instead I would look at things such as the city, places to live, if I had a family the school district for them and things of that nature, and I hate to say it but Detroit isn't that desirable of a destination as a city, and thats something Holland really has no control over. Again this is just my opinion as I am not a red wings fan.

I have no idea where you live, but I'm guessing it isn't Michigan. There is nothing undesirable about living in Metro Detroit. Yes, the actual city of Detroit has problems (and a reputation that gets blown out of proportion), but no Detroit athlete actually lives in the city. There are tons of surrounding communities that are more than satisfactory to raise a family and live.

Prior to the recession, Oakland County (which is next to the county Detroit is in) was the third-richest county in the entire country. And even now, I'm guessing it still ranks very high on the list. I think you'd be very hard pressed to find any athlete that's played in Detroit that would be deterred from re-signing due to locale.

I have no idea where you live, but I'm guessing it isn't Michigan. There is nothing undesirable about living in Metro Detroit. Yes, the actual city of Detroit has problems (and a reputation that gets blown out of proportion), but no Detroit athlete actually lives in the city. There are tons of surrounding communities that are more than satisfactory to raise a family and live.

Prior to the recession, Oakland County (which is next to the county Detroit is in) was the third-richest county in the entire country. And even now, I'm guessing it still ranks very high on the list. I think you'd be very hard pressed to find any athlete that's played in Detroit that would be deterred from re-signing due to locale.

Sorry i was partly distracted while writing that, what i meant was the reputation of the city to a laymen isn't very good. Personally I know the area isn't that bad as I will potentially be looking for jobs in that area. More so what i was getting at was that anymore these decisions half the time don't anymore have to do with hockey because most teams can make a pitch saying with you we are a legitimate stanley cup contender and not be that far off. So now it more so comes down to there personal preferences of the city and Ken Holland really has no control over how some one feels about living in a certain area.

Sorry i was partly distracted while writing that, what i meant was the reputation of the city to a laymen isn't very good. Personally I know the area isn't that bad as I will potentially be looking for jobs in that area. More so what i was getting at was that anymore these decisions half the time don't anymore have to do with hockey because most teams can make a pitch saying with you we are a legitimate stanley cup contender and not be that far off. So now it more so comes down to there personal preferences of the city and Ken Holland really has no control over how some one feels about living in a certain area.

I agree with the gist of what you're saying. The new parity of the league has allowed players to give much more consideration to factors other than money and team competitiveness. Look no further than Parise and Suter and what they did.

But I'm not willing to let Ken Holland off the hook for that reason. General managers that aren't aggressive (in trades, salary commitment, taking an occasional gamble) are at the mercy of the growing free agent phenomenon I described in the last paragraph.

I have no idea where you live, but I'm guessing it isn't Michigan. There is nothing undesirable about living in Metro Detroit. Yes, the actual city of Detroit has problems (and a reputation that gets blown out of proportion), but no Detroit athlete actually lives in the city. There are tons of surrounding communities that are more than satisfactory to raise a family and live.

Prior to the recession, Oakland County (which is next to the county Detroit is in) was the third-richest county in the entire country. And even now, I'm guessing it still ranks very high on the list. I think you'd be very hard pressed to find any athlete that's played in Detroit that would be deterred from re-signing due to locale.

I could say the same thing about Buffalo, though on a smaller scale. I'm sure plenty of players fall in love with the area once they've been there, but it's not an attractive pull.